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Attendees learned about this retooling through a variety of presentations about research and architectural practice. Preconference workshops offered participants a chance to experience retooling first hand and gave them a taste of how this retooling can affect architecture.

For example, the "SmartGeometry" workshop guided participants through the process of generating complex geometric designs and physically building them via "3D printing" or laser cutting. Such models can be used as prototypes for finished products to be manufactured. Participants discussed how digital technology provides an appropriate tool for working with geometric relationships central to architecture.

Conceptual and Scientific Research

University of California, Berkeley professor Lisa Iwamoto presented studies developed with her students to learn about the relationships between the human body and architecture. They explore spaces through digitally developed models focusing on the physical and sensorial experiences of built forms. Using these models, students rethink the relationship between occupants and spaces by exploring complex forms tuned to be in harmony with the human body.

Compared to past conferences of ACADIA and the AIA TAP, there was a striking increase in interest for complex architectural forms. Attendees said they thought this was partly due to new developments in technology. Martin Bechthold, of Harvard University, explained that modeling tools are becoming easier to use and are thereby enticing designers to explore more complex shapes than in the past.

But unrestrained complexity, though spatially exciting, does not necessarily bring about pragmatic results. For example, complex shapes may not be structurally sound. In answer to this problem, Bechthold uses a digital environment to develop structural efficiency. He models load-bearing shells and uses those models to facilitate the shells' fabrication.

Technology in Practice

While research scientists reported how technological tools can be used as means of discovering new design methods, practitioners' presentations focused on the effect of such retooling in real architecture projects.

Mark Burry, of RMIT University, presented a case study in the application of automated design to the generation of a rose window for the Sagrada Familia, the unfinished cathedral in Barcelona by Antonio Gaudí.

Burry used 3D-printed digital models as part of a rapid prototyping process. He shipped these models worldwide to others involved in the design and construction, to prevent miscommunications within the geographically dispersed team. The physical models also gave craftsmen a familiar medium to understand the design by.

Furthermore, this digitized approach aided directly in construction. For example, digitized data helped identify crane-lifting points from which to hoist stones into position during assembly of the Sagrada Familia's rose window.

In a similar discourse, Shiro Matsushima, of Toyohashi University of Technology, described how Gehry Partners uses advanced technology and how this influences their projects from concept to construction.

Modeling studies and prototypes not only affect the design and manufacturing processes, but they also allow the Gehry architects to be much more involved in all aspects of fabrication and construction. By giving them greater reach and control, these processes unleash creative power, enabling the designers to develop complex and dramatic shapes, pushing the limits of architecture as we know it.

Finally, George Petrides, of Petrides Homes LLC, and Kathrina Simonen Luke, of the California College of Arts, exhorted architects to consider the effect of automation on the use of materials like wood. They invited architects to exploit the potential of user-responsive customization of manufactured housing so that architects can benefit from the economies of such factory-based construction.

A Changing Landscape

Navigating beyond common practices, standards, and production capabilities presents many challenges but also exciting benefits, as stated by featured presenter James Timberlake, principal of Kieran Timberlake Associates. He spoke of the transformative potential of the combination of new materials and digital design.

Applications like those presented throughout the conference have the potential to open new horizons in architecture, generating new freedom in form creation. Candid snapshots of built projects illustrate this potential and awaken our senses to new possibilities.

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Celine Pinet is a professor at West Valley College in Saratoga, California, where she is chair of the Applied Arts & Sciences Division and cochair of the Interior Design Department. "Fabrication" conference organizers were Philip Beesley, University of Waterloo; Nancy Cheng, University of Oregon; and Shane Williamson, University of Toronto.

From the "Fabrication" conference exhibit: "Wall of Lessons" built from interlocking laser-cut pieces of plywood. Presented by Pablo Castro and Jennifer Lee, of OBRA Architects. Photo: OBRA Architects An exploration of surface as space maker in relationship to the moving body, presented by Lisa Iwamoto and built by her students at the University of California, Berkeley. Photo: Lisa Iwamoto Programmable interactive architecture changes shape in real-time. Presented by Kas Oosterhuis, a principal of ONL, and created with colleagues from ONL and at the Hyperbody Research Group at Delft University of Technology. Photo: Oosterhuis Lénárd Programmable interactive architecture, detail. Photo: Oosterhuis Lénárd One of the projects from the SmartGeometry workshop: a prototype created by participant Wilson Chang. Image: Wilson Chang, Urban Interface Design Prototype of a wood/ foam sandwich shell made by laminating wood onto CNC-milled foam, designed by Martin Bechthold, Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Photo: Martin Bechthold From the "Fabrication" conference exhibit: a digitally developed prototype emphasizing economy of material, presented by Christopher Beorkrem and built by his students at Iowa State University. Image: Jason Dietzenbach and Jeff Stafford   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.